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Topic: Afghanistan - 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment - 2007 (Read 13743 times)
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Six Canadian soldiers killed in roadside blast
CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Wed. Jul. 4 2007 1:48 PM ET
A roadside bomb has killed six Canadian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan.
Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, commander of Task Force Afghanistan, confirmed the deaths during a news conference Wednesday in Kandahar.
He said the soldiers -- who have not been identified pending notification of next of kin -- were travelling in an RG-31 Nyala armoured vehicle with the interpreter when they were struck by an improvised explosive device.
All the vehicle's occupants were killed.
"We're greatly saddened by the loss of these great young Canadians, exceptional young men," Grant said.
"The attack on us and our Afghan colleagues, however, will not diminish our resolve and our determination to bring to Afghanistan a peaceful land for the children of this country."
The attack happened about 20 kilometres southwest of Kandahar while the soldiers returned to their forward operating base west of Kandahar city, after conducting a joint operation with the Afghan National Army.
Grant told reporters the RG-31 is considered one of the safest vehicles in the Canadian fleet, and was driving on a road that the military has used regularly over the past month.
When asked what steps the military is taking to reduce deaths caused by IEDs, Grant said troops are finding and disarming IEDs more often than not.
"When IEDs are successful they get reported. What doesn't get reported is ... the many number of times where we neutralize IEDs -- when they're pointed out to us by locals, or we find them ourselves. We dismantle them and we exploit them, so we can learn how to defeat them," Grant told reporters.
"We're not perfect, and we do miss some, as we've seen today. But the battle against the Taliban and the battle against their choice of weapons . . . is successful."
CTV's Paul Workman, reporting from Kandahar, said the deadly attack is sure to heighten tension among Canadian troops.
"For many of these soldiers the rotation is almost over. They're thinking about getting on those airplanes and going home to see their families and no one wants to be a late casualty, and that's what we've seen today," Workman told CTV Newsnet.
With the most recent deaths, 66 Canadian military personnel and one diplomat have now been killed in Afghanistan.
Earlier violence
Earlier Wednesday, AP reported that three separate clashes left 20 militants and one police officer dead in Afghanistan.
The gun battles were sparked after militants attacked several checkpoints in Ghazni province in Afghanistan's south, the province's police chief told The Associated Press.
The fighting left 13 militants and one police officer dead.
In separate gun battles in Zabul province on Tuesday, U.S.-led coalition forces fought with suspected Taliban militants in the province's Shahjoy district.
Seven militants were killed and six others were wounded in those battles, according to a spokesperson for the province's governor.
More than 2,400 people have been killed so far this year in Afghanistan, including civilians, militants and troops according to an AP tally.
With files from The Associated Press
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
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Oh , damn...more of our heroes gave their ultimate....this must have been one h*** of an IED.... do we need to regroup as regards the explosives being used> I await news of our soldiers names, and can only say thank you for your dedication and sacrifice for your fellow humankind.. no other giveth so much..ranrad
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Mike Blais
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Ugh.
Six more deaths underline confusion about progress of mission
Don Martin
CanWest News Service
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Run the safest armoured vehicle in our military fleet down a road regularly travelled without incident by our troops patrolling a region where locals are allegedly on our side and nobody could predict it would suffer the deadliest bombing of the Canadian mission.
But that's what happened Wednesday on a hot, sunny morning when an RG-31 hit a buried explosive device and the blast claimed six Canadian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter.
Base commander Gen. Tim Grant put on a defiant face to announce the grim news, but there were traces of confusion in his words as he tried to explain how Canadian forces could be claiming progress militarily when the Taliban continue to record galling success in killing our soldiers.
The Panjwai region is home to friends of the counter insurgency who have benefitted greatly from international protection and assistance, yet Taliban fighters were able to sneak to within 20 kilometres of Kandahar City, plant the device and detonate it either by vehicular pressure or cell-phone signal.
We don't yet know the details, but this much is obvious. This was a helluva potent bomb, probably fashioned by the same person whose bloody handiwork killed three soldiers two weeks ago by linking a pair of anti-tank mines to an anti-personnel device in the explosive overkill of a small Gator all-terrain vehicle.
Taking out an armoured RG-31, which seats seven including a gunner operating a machine gun on the roof by remote control, is a daunting task because the thick metal floor is curved to deflect the blast sideways.
To unleash enough explosive capacity to penetrate that protective bottom and kill every occupant raises obvious questions about the sort of elevated threat soldiers are facing here.
I repeat: this was a safe road in a safe region. Death was not expected on this stretch of gravel. If the insurgents can detonate a monster explosion here and simply fade back into the fields to plot anew, nowhere is safe.
What's worse is the contrast this tragedy presents to a Canadian public trying to figure out which side is winning.
Just 24 hours earlier, the Canadian military was basking in the afterglow of captivating television footage shot by one of their staff showing soldiers gunning for the Taliban, tending the wounded and carrying away the dead.
But that operation only claimed two Taliban lives. With the activation of a simple detonator, the Taliban hit back and inflicted three times the casualty count on their enemy. Somehow the fatality balance is tipping the wrong way.
That's not to say Canada is losing the fight. There are many areas which are relatively secure under Canadian command today where the Taliban roamed freely a year ago.
But to see this airfield in action is to appreciate just how lopsided this conflict ought to be. Missile-laden fighter jets thunder into the sky every morning while tanks or armoured vehicles rumble off to battle carrying the best-armed soldiers money can buy. Their assignment is simply to find and annihilate a force of fanatics hiding out in grape fields who slip into small villages to find food or shelter.
Yet the Taliban are not losing ground. In fact, their tactics of guerrilla warfare are arguably having greater success than the organized insurgency on display a year ago.
Somehow they seem to be staging a comeback and, perish the thought, perhaps winning back the fearful hearts and minds of a local population who need to be convinced our good guys will prevail.
The last three months have seen five deadly explosions claim a total of 19 Canadian soldiers with four weeks of summer fighting season to go before this deployment returns to Canada.
The surging toll of fallen soldiers is bound to increase apprehension, if not opposition, to a mission already hemorrhaging support in public opinion polling.
What's worse, military officials foreshadowed an even higher death toll to come in background briefings earlier this week. Senior officers with regional command predict this year will exceed the 2,853 "significant activities" of combat against the enemy recorded in Kandahar during 2006. They openly admit Kandahar is one of only two provinces classified as unstable.
Lt.-Col. Bob Chamberlain, commander of the Provincial Reconstruction Team, lamented that there are districts in the province where a sudden upsurge in Taliban activity has kept redevelopment and humanitarian activity barricaded inside forward operating bases.
If Canada cannot record enough military progress to secure areas so the vital work of rebuilding the shattered lives of the Afghan people can proceed, one has to wonder if the entire mission isn't in jeopardy.
dmartinnationalpost.com
© CanWest News Service
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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statements....
Statement by the Honourable Stéphane Dion, Leader of the Opposition, on the Death of Six Canadian Soldiers in Afghanistan
July 4, 2007
OTTAWA – I was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of six Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan this morning. Members of the Liberal Party of Canada and our Parliamentary Caucus join me in expressing our most heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and comrades of these courageous Canadians as they cope with this tremendous loss.
Our thoughts and prayers are also with the family and friends of the Afghan interpreter who was killed in the attack.
A tragedy of this magnitude drives home the very real risks Canadian Forces members face in Afghanistan every day, as they serve their country and the people of Afghanistan by working to bring hope and stability to this troubled region.
We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the men and women of the Canadian Forces as they risk their lives to create a safer and more secure world for Canadians and people the world over.
Together, we mourn the loss of these brave soldiers, and send wishes of support and gratitude to their comrades who continue to serve in Afghanistan.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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Mike Blais
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May God have mercy on our sister regiment...
6 Canadian soldiers killed TheStar.com - World - 6 Canadian soldiers killed
July 04, 2007
Richard Brennan
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA - Six Canadian soldiers and an interpreter were killed today by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, Canadian Forces Brigadier-General Tim Grant has confirmed.
The soldiers were returning to their forward operating base in the Panjawai-Zhari district of Kandahar province, travelling in a convoy along a frequently used gravel road when their RG-31 armoured vehicle – which is designed to withstand up to two simultaneous anti-tank mines – struck a roadside bomb, Grant told reporters at Kandahar Airfield.
All of the dead were traveling in the same vehicle, a NATO spokesman said.
“We’re greatly saddened by the loss of these great Canadians, exceptional young men,” Grant said.
Grant said the explosion happened on a gravel road “that we have travelled regularly in the past month.”
Grant is the top commander of the Canadian contingent in Afghanistan.
The deaths brought the total of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2002 to 66.
The identities of four of the dead were released late Wednesday afternoon: Cpl. Cole Bartsch, Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe and Pte. Lane Watkins, all of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton; and Master Cpl. Colin Bason, a reservist from The Royal Westminster Regiment based in New Westminster, B.C.
The family of the other two killed have not yet agreed to the release of their names.
The soldiers had been on a cordon-and-search operation, following intelligence that Taliban militants were in the area.
They were due to end their tour of duty in Afghanistan at the end of this month.
The latest deaths occurred in an area the Canadian military has been using as an example of their mission’s achievements in Afghanistan.
The Taliban were thought to have largely left, and several reconstruction projects are under way.
But three other soldiers were killed there on June 20 by an improvised explosive device.
The RG-31 Nyala patrol vehicle is considered one of the military’s strongest in protecting against the deadly scourge of roadside bombs, but it failed today to save the lives of the seven people inside its armoured body.
Grant said it’s not clear why this particular bomb managed to defeat the Nyala’s defences.
An investigation is underway, and until it’s completed it won’t be known whether the vehicle’s use should be questioned, he said.
The Nyala is a South African-built armoured patrol vehicle the army uses widely in Afghanistan. Its massive wheels and undercarriage are far higher above the dusty ground than the LAV-3, another light armoured vehicle that’s also supposed to provide protection against explosives.
It’s not the first time a Canadian soldier has been killed while riding in a Nyala.
In October, Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson died from injuries sustained when his Nyala was hit by an improvised explosive device — or IED — in the same district.
Though the military has said the rising use of roadside bombs is a sign of a desperate insurgency, their deadly blasts have claimed more lives during the current rotation of Canadian troops than any other weapons — 19 of the 22 soldiers killed so far.
James Appathurai, a NATO spokesman, told the CBC from Brussels that the deaths were a “very heavy blow” to NATO. Panjawai was the scene of fierce fighting by Canadian soldiers last summer in a bid to clear Taliban fighters out of what has been described as their “heartland.”
The region has been considered a success story after locals began moving back into the area when last year’s fighting subsided. But in recent weeks the insurgency appears to have popped its head up in a flurry of activity.
The three Canadian soldiers killed late last month while moving supplies around in an unprotected Gator vehicle were struck by a roadside bomb in Panjawai.
Grant said the Panjawai district remains “one of the safest areas” of Kandahar province, but admitted that Zhari district, a neighbouring area home to about 76,000 Afghans, is not as safe.
“This is an area where, while the Taliban operate in it, they do not operate freely,” he said.
It is the second straight incident in which Canadian soldiers appear to have been caught by surprise by hidden bombs. Grant said that more improvised explosive devices are detected and dismantled than kill international forces, but that “we’re not perfect and we do miss some, as we did today.”
Today's blast is the deadliest involving Canadians since Easter Sunday, April 8, when another devastating roadside-bomb explosion killed six Canadian soldiers in what was then the worst single-day toll for the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.
The latest deaths came as the current rotation of Canadian soldiers are entering their last month of their tour in Afghanistan.
The military is paving the way for the next battle group due to arrive in August — about 2,000 soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment, known as the Van Doos, from Valcartier, Que.
Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jack Layton told a news conference today that Canada should pull its troops out of Afghanistan before more lives are lost in a war he says can't be won.
"What they are being asked to do now is participate in a mission that has no prospect of military success,” Layton said.
“It will simply escalate and prolong itself until we realize that it is not going to accomplish its goals.”
Opposition Leader Stéphane Dion expressed condolences to the families of the six soldiers and to the family of the Afghan interpreter at a press conference.
In response to questions, Dion repeated the Liberal position that Canada should tell its NATO allies and the Afghan government now that it intends to end its current mission in 18 months' time.
"We need to be clear about the end of the combat mission in Kandahar in February 2009," he said.
"This is not something new, we're not chaning our view because of the tragedy of today. The tragedy of today is something that is binding all Canadians together, whatever they think of the mission."
The latest attack was the deadliest against foreign troops in Afghanistan since May 13, when seven military personnel were killed — five Americans, a Canadian and a Briton.
The Chinook helicopter they were riding in crashed in Helmand province, and officials at the time said it appeared a rocket-propelled grenade may have brought it down.
With files from Canadian Press
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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Taliban adopt deadly Iraqi tactics
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6 Canadian soldiers and interpreter die as insurgents use powerful bomb against Canada's strongest troop carrier
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GRAEME SMITH
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From Thursday's Globe and Mail
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Thursday, July 05 – Online Edition, Posted at 4:18 AM EST
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Six Canadian soldiers and their interpreter died yesterday as the Taliban continued to launch bold attacks inside zones considered mostly pacified, shifting their tactics toward the kind of bombings that have proved devastating in Iraq.
About a dozen military vehicles, Canadian and Afghan, were driving west along a gravel road after finishing a search of a village about 20 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city, when a powerful bomb detonated at 11 a.m. local time.
The explosion engulfed an RG-31 Nyala troop carrier, a vehicle manufactured in South Africa and specifically designed with a boat-like hull to withstand mine blasts. It's the Canadians' strongest vehicle against roadside bombs, but the insurgents have recently been wiring up bigger caches of ordnance and more sophisticated-shaped charges into their so-called improvised explosive devices, breaking through even the best armour.
"We're not perfect and we do miss some, as we have seen today," said Brigadier-General Tim Grant, the top Canadian commander in Afghanistan. "But the battle against the Taliban and the battle against their choice of weapons, IED, is successful."
This year, 19 Canadian soldiers have been killed by IEDs, and only one has died under direct fire from insurgents. In total, 66 Canadians and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.
The Taliban's increasing use of roadside bombs has also taken a toll on civilians, Brig.-Gen. Grant said. "They have managed to kill six great young Canadians today, which is an absolute tragedy," he said. "The other part of this is that they're killing lots of Afghans. They're attacking the weak, they're killing women, they're killing children, they're killing policemen. These are not the tactics of anything other than terrorists."
Such terrorism has proven effective, however.
Police in Kandahar reported 13 officers killed and 14 sent to hospital during a single week last month. Seven more Afghan police died in a roadside bombing in nearby Zhari district on Monday. Humanitarian workers say their operations have been squeezed by the increasing dangers in districts outside Kandahar city.
Asked whether this represents an "Iraqization" of the conflict, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Trudel, who serves as chief of staff for the Canadian headquarters in Kandahar, shook his head.
"Not particularly," he said. "It indicates a loss of control by the insurgents."
Canadian troops faced insurgents in the farmland southwest of Kandahar city last year in the largest battles Afghanistan has witnessed since the collapse of the Taliban regime. Those fights have taught the Taliban that it's fruitless to openly confront the Canadians, Lt.-Col. Trudel said.
"The fact that we've lost a lot of soldiers from IED attacks indicates a success, in the sense that our conventional operations have succeeded against the Taliban," the chief of staff said.
The identities of four of the dead soldiers were released late yesterday afternoon. They are: Corporal Cole Bartsch; Captain Matthew Johnathan Dawe; and Private Lane Watkins, all of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton; and Master Corporal Colin Bason, a reservist from The Royal Westminster Regiment based in New Westminster, B.C.
The families of the other two killed have not yet agreed to the release of their names.
At the time of the blast, the military convoy was about 1½ kilometres southwest of the village of Salavat, returning from a mission as part of Operation Luger, a cordon search for suspected insurgents. Military officials described the mission as led by Afghan troops, but house searches remain highly unpopular with conservative Afghans. Homeowners frequently accuse Afghan forces of stealing during their searches.
"It was a cordon and search operation that we conducted," Brig.-Gen. Grant said. "They had gone into a small village. Our intelligence had pointed us in the direction to determine if there were Taliban operating in that area."
Dusty flatlands and rocky outcrops southwest of Kandahar form the eastern edge of Panjwai district, which the military believes it pacified months ago. The Afghan government's main representative in the area, a provincial councillor named Haji Aga Lalai, fled the district with his family last summer. He hasn't yet moved back, but a district shura, or council of elders, was re-established this spring and Canada's Provincial Reconstruction Team has poured money and projects into the area. The northeastern corner of the district is dominated by the Alokozai tribe, an ally of the government.
"Our assessment still is that this part of Afghanistan, the Panjwai area, is one of the safer areas in the province," Brig.-Gen. Grant said.
"Its neighbouring district, Zhari, is not as safe and we know we have security problems in that area." The provincial government said 33 Taliban were killed in pitched battles that swept through Zhari district earlier this week.
"Panjwai, though, is an area we are comfortable travelling in," Brig.-Gen. Grant said. "We have great relationships with the local elders, the district leadership and the people on the ground. While this is an area the Taliban operate in, they do not operate freely."
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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PM defends Afghan mission
TheStar.com - News - PM defends Afghan mission
'Casualties of this level weigh very heavily on my mind,' Harper says
July 05, 2007
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
HALIFAX – The deaths of six Canadian soldiers yesterday in Afghanistan is a “terrible tragedy” but it is too early to have a political debate on what the country’s mounting toll means for the future of the mission, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says.
Speaking aboard HMCS Halifax, Harper expressed his condolences to the dead, their families and their fellow soldiers. He added that he regrets the loss any soldier, let alone six in one day.
The deaths, which were caused by a powerful roadside bomb in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province, brought the Canadian death toll to 66 since the country arrived in Afghanistan in 2002.
“As prime minister, casualties of any kind weigh heavily on my mind,” Harper said. “Casualties of this level weigh very heavily on my mind. I speak to families that lose loved ones. I’m aware of the pain that causes. I’m aware also of the pride they feel for their loved ones who have served this country and have been prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.”
The military released the names of four of the dead soldiers yesterday evening. They are: Master Cpl. Colin Bason, Capt. Matthew Dawe, Cpl. Cole Bartsch and Pte. Lane Watkins. The names of the other two soldiers have not yet been released.
The deaths have sparked calls from the opposition to kick start a debate on Canada’s future in the NATO-led mission, with NDP leader Jack Layton and Liberal leader Stephane Dion calling for the Prime Minister to signal the country’s unwillingness to continue on past February 2009.
“I think this government’s been very clear about the duration of this mission. Parliament has approved that to February 2009. But today is not the day to have a political debate on the future of the mission. We have the House of Commons for that. Today is a day to express our condolences for these soldiers.”
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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Allied effort fails to defuse roadside bomb threat
Makeshift devices proving deadly. 'It's a cat-and-mouse game' with Taliban
RICHARD FOOT
CanWest News Service
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Canada and its NATO allies have spent billions of dollars and dispatched a small army of sleuths to Afghanistan and Iraq in the hope of stemming an increasingly deadly tide of enemy roadside bombs.
Yet makeshift bombs - technically known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs - are killing more coalition soldiers than ever and this year have
become the greatest single threat to Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
Since the removal of the Taliban regime in 2001, a total of 366 coalition soldiers have died in Afghanistan from hostile enemy action, including the six Canadians killed yesterday. As many as 110 of those deaths - 30 per cent - were the result of IEDs, according to U.S. military data.
Twenty-seven of the 66 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan have been killed by IEDs.
Canada's IED casualties are also on the rise. Between 2003 and 2005, two Canadians died and six were wounded in two separate IED or landmine blasts.
But there were seven IED attacks in 2006 alone, killing six and wounding 15 Canadian troops. In the first half of 2007, there have been seven IED attacks, responsible for 19 of the 22 Canadian deaths this year.
What is Canada doing to fight this threat to the lives of its soldiers and to the mission in general? Officials at the Department of National Defence couldn't say yesterday, referring the question to the military commanders in Kandahar.
Lee Windsor, a professor at the University of New Brunswick's centre for Military and Strategic Studies who returned in April from a month in Kandahar, says the army is playing an intensive "cat-and-mouse game" with the Taliban, investigating roadside bomb attacks and hunting down the IED-makers.
"We have a group of Canadian engineers who constantly work on this," he said. "They're probably the hardest working guys in the whole task force."
Using forensic evidence collected at each bomb site, U.S. and Canadian counter-IED teams try to trace each bomb to specific insurgent cells. Infantry or special forces teams then hunt and kill the cells if possible.
"It's a cat-and-mouse game, and we missed big on Wednesday," Windsor said.
The challenge facing IED investigators is huge. Afghanistan is awash in unused munitions, many remaining from the war with the Russians, others funnelled in from Pakistan and paid for with opium profits.
Old artillery shells, landmines, grenades and other explosives are strapped together and hidden behind road signs or guard rails, under rocks, or even inside the carcasses of dead animals on southern Afghanistan's endless web of dirt roads.
The bombs can be hidden months in advance, or placed only minutes before a NATO convoy drives by, triggered from a distance by a watching insurgent with a simple electronic activating device such as a cellphone or garage door opener.
Canadian forces have tried a multitude of tactics to defend against IEDs. They have equipped their vehicles with electronic jamming devices, and have tried to win the trust of local Afghans, in the hope of gathering intelligence about the location of IEDs.
Last year, Canada also spent $60 million to buy a fleet of imposing, Nyala RG-31 troop transport vehicles, designed in South Africa to withstand a blast of up to 14 kilograms worth of TNT.
Despite all these efforts, IEDs continue to kill more Canadian troops than ever. Yesterday's victims were riding in a Nyala, the very vehicle the military claimed would keep its soldiers safe.
The attack also occurred in a district, said Canadian Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, where "we have great relationships with the local elders (and) with the people on the ground."
But Grant also emphasized yesterday's attack is no symbol of failure for the counter-IED effort, saying there are occasions "when we neutralize IEDs, where they're pointed out to us by locals, or we find them ourselves and dismantle them."
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
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I truly believe that God has these men at his side right now, for HE knows they do HIS work...i also feel sorry for any insurgents who use these methods to kill their fellow man ,when they so obvoiously are not solid in their conviction of cause... they only strive to kill to try to have their way against all mankind... it will not work.. honesty and decency will prevail...my condolences to the families friends and Regimantal family in the loss of these fine men... they gave the ultimate that others could have a better life..no man can give more..may they now rest in peace with God...ranrad
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Officer remembers fallen Canadians during bumpy Nyala ride on Afghan road
July 5, 2007 - 15:47
By: STEPHANIE LEVITZ
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Bumping along on a gravel road Thursday morning, the RG-31 Nyala vehicle shook and shuddered.
Lt.-Col. Wayne Eyre was uncomfortable, but unfazed. On Wednesday, six Canadian died when their vehicle, also a Nyala, was ripped apart by a roadside bomb. Eyre said he still has complete faith in the RG-31 as his vehicle slammed into potholes and thunked over speed bumps en route back to Kandahar Airfield from Spin Boldak, on the Pakistan border.
The Nyala armoured patrol vehicle is considered by the military as its heaviest protection against the scourge of improvised explosive devices or IEDs - commonly known as roadside bombs.
"I still have confidence in the vehicle," he said as the driver squawked out commands over the intercom.
"It's getting us from point A to point B. There's no vehicle in the world that will be an answer for every threat out there."
His sentiment was shared by retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie back in Canada.
"You'll never have a military vehicle that's 100-per-cent safe," MacKenzie said in a telephone interview. "It's just never been invented."
"They all have their vulnerabilities. And in this particular case, with the IED probably being based on an artillery shell that causes penetration, the result was as we saw it yesterday."
Tired from their drive and shaken by the latest deaths, soldiers gathered quietly to the side of the sand-coloured vehicles in Kandahar early Thursday. Like the six men killed Wednesday, members of the force-protection unit navigating the rugged terrain in this RG-31s were due to return home in August.
"This is a wake-up call," said one soldier who didn't want his name used. "What we thought was the safest thing out there maybe isn't."
Tucked into the window panelling of their vehicle were two woollen teddy bears, a gift from a female soldier for good luck.
It was the only soft touch inside the harsh, cramped Nyala, with its plastic seats and awkward seatbelts taking away some of the charm of seeing the Afghan countryside go by through its tinted windows.
The seatbelts are designed to keep soldiers from slamming their heads into the metal ceiling of the vehicles, if and when a blast strikes and pressure waves fill the narrow interior.
The young soldier said it was hard for him to climb into the Nyala in the morning, hard to keep going when the end of his mission is only weeks away.
But Eyre said now is the time for soldiers to work harder than ever before.
"There is a hollow spot, make no doubt about that," he told The Canadian Press in an exclusive interview. "But what we need to do is be strong, and we have to dig deeper than we've ever dug before and carry on with our task here."
In his more than 20 years with the Canadian Forces, Eyre has seen death many times.
In Afghanistan, he heads up the Operational Mentor Liaison Team which helps train the Afghan Army. He's been to farewell ceremonies for their soldiers, and countless ramp ceremonies for his own.
But soldiers of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry are special to him.
At least four of those killed Wednesday were from the 3rd Battalion of the Princess Patricia. He had come to know and respect them during his time as commanding officer of the Edmonton-based regiment.
Upon learning of the deaths, Eyre went straight to their side - even though he had left his role as their commanding officer behind in Canada. He did the same in the last week of June when three other men from the battalion were also killed by an IED.
He carries the memories of all the lost soldiers with him.
"You'll never forget them, they'll be with us forever," he said. "We have fairly formalized memorial services but that still doesn't replace personal memories."
The gentle way Eyre called up the memories made the crunching noise of the Nyala moving over gravel fade into the background, the ever-present danger of an IED buried in the loose stones of the unpaved road forgotten for a moment.
He remembered Capt. Matt Dawe as a superb athlete and "a real people person, an all-around great guy."
Eyre served alongside two of Dawe's brothers.
He was "extremely dedicated, a devoted family man, very proud of his family, a young wife, a young son. A tremendous officer, loved by his troops," Eyre said.
He broke into a smile remembering Corp. Jordan Anderson - the smile turned into a slight grimace when the Nyala swerved around the washed-out road.
"He was one of the most articulate soldiers I've ever had the privilege to serve with," Eyre said. "Extremely intelligent. I'm going to miss him giving me good ideas on how to run the battalion."
Pte. Lane Watkins was a quiet team player. "Extremely strong," Eyre said. "He could fire a machine-gun like a pistol."
Cpl. Cole Bartsch always had a smile. "He was always happy, never complaining ... No task was too hard for him."
Eyre said he didn't know Master Cpl. Colin Bason, a reservist from New Westminster, B.C., as well as the others. But he had tremendous respect for him all the same.
A sixth soldier, whose name has been withheld at the request of his family, fit in well with his company, Eyre said.
"Their dedication is something else, to sign up for something like this," he said.
The tension inside the Nyala eased slightly once it's back on paved road, the threat of explosives diminished.
Eyre reflected on grieving with his men.
"There's a significant sense of frustration that the guys can't strike back," he said.
"But they understand the reasons why they can't, and in that their discipline is amazing."
Fighting a war against insurgents means the threat is ever-present, Eyre said.
"I talked to their commanders out there and said you can make every single right decision out there and people still get killed. It's the nature of conflict."
Sixty-six Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have now been killed in Afghanistan.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Soldiers back at work as Afghan violence continues
CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Fri. Jul. 6 2007 7:04 AM ET
The investigation into the deadly blast that claimed the lives of six Canadian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter is still underway, but soldiers are back at work as violence continues to claim lives in the country.
NATO announced Friday that a suicide bomber blew up a room full of policemen eating lunch at a southern Afghan checkpoint on Thursday, killing 10 officers and wounding 11. In another deadly exchange, three NATO soldiers were killed in eastern Afghanistan.
CTV's Paul Workman, reporting from Kandahar, said there is little time for grieving, and Canadian soldiers remain focused on their work.
"I spoke to an officer this morning who is very close connected to the company to which these soldiers belonged," Workman told CTV Newsnet on Friday.
"He essentially said they will grieve for a few hours, they will then put their feelings aside and get back to work. He said there's really a great frustration among the troops at not being able to get back against these roadside bombs, but he also told me when asked how the troops are holding up, make no mistake about it they're in for the fight."
The final two soldiers who were killed have been identified. They are:
* Cpl. Jordan Anderson, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton
* Capt. Jefferson Francis, 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Manitoba
The six soldiers were travelling in an RG-31 Nyala armoured vehicle on Wednesday when it was struck by an improvised explosive device, killing all the occupants.
Workman said the investigation into the blast is still underway and few details have been released publicly.
However, some information is beginning to trickle down about how the soldiers were killed.
"Sources tell here tell me the bomb itself didn't breach the vehicle, didn't penetrate the hull of the vehicle, that the hull remained intact," Workman said.
"It seems as though the soldiers inside were somehow killed by the concussion of the blast, that's a bit of speculation, but the military's confidence in the vehicle remains very high that it's very strong, rugged, reliable and up to the job. The speculation is that it was more or less a lucky hit by the Taliban."
The other four soldiers killed have been identified as:
*
Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe
*
Cpl. Cole Bartsch
*
Pte. Lane Watkins
*
Master Cpl. Colin Bason
Senior commanders at CFB Edmonton have called for quiet reflection on the recent deaths, rather than political debate on the mission. Four of the slain men were based in Edmonton.
"I would encourage all of you that at this point in time, that the focus must be on repatriating these valiant soldiers and ensuring their families hear a clarion call of love and support from Canada," said Col. Jon Vance on Thursday.
"The families are well aware that there is debate on this mission. Nonetheless, at this particular point in time, the most sensitive and, I think, mature approach, would be to show them ... love and support. These soldiers died in a mission that they believed in, and saw progress occurring."
Also, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that it was not appropriate to have an immediate debate about the mission in light of the recent deaths.
"Parliament has approved... (the mission) until February 2009, but obviously today is not the day to have a political debate on the future of the mission, we have the House of Commons for that," Harper told reporters at a press conference in Halifax.
With the most recent deaths, 66 Canadian military personnel and one diplomat have now been killed in Afghanistan.
Thursday violence
In other violence on Thursday, 10 Afghan police officers were killed in a suicide blast and two NATO soldiers were killed and several others, including Afghan troops and a civilian contractor were wounded during an operation in the east, the alliance said Friday.
The alliance has not disclosed the nationalities of the NATO casualties or the place where the operation took place. Most of the NATO troops in the east are American.
Earlier, authorities said a roadside bomb in the east had killed a NATO soldier Thursday.
More than 3,000 people -- mostly militants -- have now been killed in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press tally.
The suicide attack occurred near Spin Boldak, a town in the southern province of Kandahar near the Pakistan border. In addition to the killed police officers, 11 others were wounded, said Sayeed Agha Saqib, the provincial police chief. Spin Boldak's district police chief was among the wounded.
Militants also deployed a roadside bomb against NATO-led forces in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, leaving one soldier dead and wounding two others, the alliance said Friday.
The wounded soldiers were taken to a medical facility for treatment and were in stable condition.
With files from The Associated Press
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
Ultimate 2000+ Member
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